Often an individual desires a light source to illuminate an area while performing a task or a light source directed in a general outward direction for visibility. Holding a flashlight is an option, but such lighting devices are often cumbersome and may detract from the task being completed because the flashlight must be held. As a result, hands-free lighting is often used because the individual desiring illumination does not need to hold the light source. Common types of hand-free lighting include light sources mounted to headgear or eyeglasses.
Light sources on eyeglasses usually include mounting arrangements of the light source, which may be an LED, on either the cross-frame or temple of the eyeglass so as to provide illumination forwardly of the wearer. In such configuration, lighted eyeglasses can be used to provide directed or focused light so that an area immediately forward of the wearer, e.g., 6-24 inches from their eyes, can be illuminated for tasks such as reading typical sized print. For other activities, such as walking at night, camping or everyday use, lighting areas even further ahead of the individual may be desirable. However, prior lighted glasses configured to provide hands-free lighting for some of these various purposes have often been heavy, bulky, inconvenient, and/or have an unsightly appearance where the lighting is conspicuous on the lighted glasses.
In this regard, some prior lighted glasses have separate and bulky lighting modules fastened to the glasses such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,541,767 to Murphy et al.; 4,959,760 to Wu; and 3,769,663 to Perl. These glasses are heavy and/or bulky making them inconvenient for a user to wear. In addition, these prior lighted glasses conspicuously mount the lighting modules to the glasses or incorporate electronic components for the lighting therein so that the presence of the light modules or electronic components is visually prominent when the glasses are worn, giving the glasses an unsightly appearance.
Another problem presented by prior lighted glasses is that the batteries powering the light sources need to be replaced after they have drained. Thus, a user of the lighted glasses must keep spare batteries sized for the respective lighted glasses, which can be irregular shapes and sizes. Moreover, a manufacturer of the prior lighted glasses must then also make a cover that is easy to open or remove for the battery compartment of the lighted glasses so a user can easily gain access to the drained batteries to replace them, which can complicate designs and require additional components driving up costs.